Family demands answers after teen alledgedly knocked unconscious by Jersey City police
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (WABC) -- A violent encounter between an officer and a teen boy at a New Jersey mall was caught on camera and the boy's family is demanding answers from the police department.
Officers swarmed the food court at the Newport Center Mall in Jersey City after a girl reported she had been threatened with a gun.
Kilil Blake said he had nothing to do with the people involved in the threat and had walked around the officers to stand near the foodcourt seats when he was surrounded by cops.
"They searched one group and cops asked if we were part of the group and I said no," Kilil said. "I got patted down my legs and then the other cop came out of nowhere. He didn't say anything to me. He didn't announce himself or anything. He just yoked me up and started punching without any word said to me."
Kilil said the last punch left him unconscious and when he woke cops searched his fanny pack and found a concealed knife.
"They tried to say I had it and pulled it out, but that never happened," Kilil said. "Before he punched on me he didn't know I had a knife till I was knocked out."
Kilil's father says his son made a mistake carrying a small knife but adds Jersey City is dangerous and people keep weapons close by for safety.
"All you see is this officer like boom, boom, boom," Kilil's father Leon Blake said. "You all don't understand, to see my oldest son being abused by these cops."
Leon says he rushed to the mall when his son was arrested and saw him being wheeled into an ambulance.
"I'm trying to find out why my son is being taken out in an ambulance and they wouldn't let me know anything," Leon said.
The City issued a statement that said, "the administration created a force unit to conduct internal investigations regarding the use of force. As has been made clear, in Jersey City we have zero tolerance for excessive force."
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